The greater false vampire bat Megaderma lyra is an Indomalayan bat
species. Although this species has been reported from Punjab Sind and
Baluchistan no specimen has been captured from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
(KP).We report its occurrence further northwest of Pakistan in Malakand
district where 40 greater false vampire bats were recorded roosting in a
chromite mine at Heroshah of tehsil Dargai. We used a hand net to
capture the bats. Upon examination it was found that all were females.
The captured bats were identified on the basis of their unique facial
appearance an erect and elongated nose-leaf and large oval ears that
joined on the forehead. This paper documents craniomorphometeric
characteristics of the greater false vampire bats inhabiting
northwestern part of the country and compares with previous available
records.

Key words: First record; Malakand; Heroshah; Chiroptera.

INTRODUCTION

Family Megadermatidae (Chiroptera: Mammalia) is one of the eight
bat families that are confined to the Old World tropics (Bates and
Harrison 1997) and consists of four genera and six species worldwide.
Three genera (Cardioderma Peters 1873 Lavia Gray 1838 and Macroderma
Miller 1906) are monospecific (C. cor L. frons and M. gigas) while the
fourth one i.e. Megaderma E. Geoffroy 1810 is represented by two
species. Of these two M. lyra E. Geoffroy 1810 is a larger Oriental
species that differs from its congener (M. spasma) by a longer forearm
short and broad tragus deep prenasal notch and smaller post- orbital
process (Csorba and Topal 1994). It is due to these morphological
differences that M. lyra is placed in a separate subgenus Lyroderma
(Lekagul and McNeely 1977).

Family Megadermatidae represented in Pakistan only by a single
species i.e. Megaderma lyra is widely distributed in the south and
southeast Asia from Afghanistan to southern China Burma Thailand
Cambodia Laos Vietnam south to Sri Lanka West Malaysia and Bangladesh
(Simmons 2005). The mammal collection of the British Museum (London)
houses seven specimens of M. lyra from Pakistan of which six were
collected from Lehtrar (Murree) Punjab and one from Baluchistan (Siddiqi
1961). The Baluchistan specimen was collected from Lasbela (Roberts
1997). Some specimens have also been collected from Lahore and Sialkot
(Punjab) and from Sukker in Sindh (Roberts 1997). However this species
has never been recorded from northern Pakistan. Although these bats have
been collected from Nangahar Province in Afghanistan (Gaislar 1970) the
species has not been reported from Iran (Roberts 1997; Bates and
Harrison 1997; Simmons 2005; Mahmood-ul-Hassan et al. 2009).

This paper documents cranio-morphometeric characteristics of five
specimens of M. lyra collected for the first time from District Malakand
Khyber PakhtunKhwa.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Malakand district (N3433'56 E7155'51) is located in
northwest Pakistan at an elevation of 844 m above sea level. It is
bounded on the north by the district Lower Dir on the northeast by Swat
and southeast by Buner. Mardan and Charsadda districts lie in south
while Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies lie in west of Malakand district. The
district is surrounded by mountains on the northeast and west that
separate it from Swat Bajaur and Mohmand respectively. The district is
famous for chromite and granite mining and is typified by steppic forest
in intermediate latitudes vegetated with Juniperus macropoda Franxinus
xanthoxyloides Pinus gerardiana Artmisia maritime Rheum emodi Ephedra
nebrodensis Rosa webbiana Tennisetum orientalis Pistacia mutica Thymus
serpyllum and Eremurus aurantiacus. The mammal fauna of the area
includes the collared pika Ochotona rufescens the migratory hamster
Cricetulus migratorius

A survey of the Malakand Division (Pakistan) was carried out to
record its bat fauna. All the potential bat roosts such as mines old and
undisturbed buildings abandoned wells and farm houses were thoroughly
searched (Mahmood-ul-Hassan et al. 2012). Local people were interviewed
for gaining information about the exact location of various bat roosts.
A handheld GPS (Garmin Etrax H) was used to record geographical
coordinates. A total of 40 M. lyra were found roosting in a mine at
Heroshah (N34 26.762' E71 49.064) Tehsil Dargai. The mine was 83 m
long 1.5 m high and 2 m wide and had been mined for the last ten years.
The floor was littered with bat guano. We used a locally made hand net
to capture the bats all of which were adult females. The captured
specimens were placed in separate cotton bags weighed up to 0.1 g
(Pesola Spring Balance 300g) and measured before being euthanized and
preserved in absolute alcohol.

Specimens were then brought to the laboratory for recording cranial
measurements. The skulls (n =3) were prepared and measured following
Bates et al. (1997 2005) and Javid et al. (2012ab). The remaining two
specimens remained preserved in absolute alcohol in the BatLab
Department of Zoology and Fisheries University of Agriculture
Faisalabad. RESULTS

Distribution: Of the seventeen mines roosts visited only a single
colony of M. lyra was recorded from Heroshah where it was co-roosting
with Rousettus leschenaultii and Hipposideros fulvus. Dental Formula.
0123/2123=28

Morphology. This is a large bat with a big head and prominent
muzzle. Its huge semi-naked ears which are bluntly rounded join in the
middle of the forehead and possess bifurcated tragus. The noseleaf is
simple straight and long enough to reach almost near the forehead. The
skin of the nose leaf is pink and naked with a ridge and two furrows in
the middle. The eyes are quite large and prominent. The lower jaw is
comparatively longer the upper one. Dorsal body fur is mouse grey and
consists of long fine and silky hair. The belly fur is a paler and more
yellowish grey. Wings are broad as the fifth digit is relatively long.
The second phalanx on the second metacarpal is absent. Tail does not
extend beyond the inter-femoral membrane which is supported by calcars.
Female have two pectoral mammae with two more false teats in the pubic
region.

Table 1. Comparison of mean external body and cranial measurements
(mm) of Megaderma lyra captured from Heroshah tehsil Dargai in Malakand
district (present study) with a previous studies from South Asia (Bates
and Harrison 1997) and Pakistan (Roberts 1997).

###MeanSD###Range

Body Parameters###Bates and###Roberts

###Bates and Harrison###Present study###Present study

###Harrison###1997

Head and Body###82.8
5.9###85.402.41###70.0-95.0###82.00-88.00###76-94

The bat fauna of Pakistan is the least explored both in terms of
the number of bat species and their distribution (Mahmood-ul-Hassan and
Nameer 2006). Most of the studies on bats of the country were done
during the British reign and as such no major reference bat collection
is available in any museum of the country even today. Descriptions of
some bats (e.g. Hippsideros cinaraceus and Triaenops persicus) are based
only on a single specimen and have not been collected afterwards from
the country. Siddiqi (1961) Roberts (1977 1997) Bates and Harrison(1997)
Mahmood-ul-Hassan et al. (2009) and Srinivasulu et al. (2010) are the
main sources of information on the bat fauna of the country but mainly
relied on reviews. Mahmood-ul-Hassan et al. (2011) and Javid et al.
(2012a b) have made some recent efforts to redefine distribution and
status of some bat species in Punjab Pakistan. The bat fauna of northern
Pakistan has however remained unexplored so far.

Detailed knowledge about almost all the bat species is currently
lacking thereby making a perplexing situation regarding their taxonomy
and distribution.

The new bat species are generally recorded from the area that
either has remained least surveyed or the species have changed their
distribution ranges over the past few decades. Both these situations are
true in case of Pakistan. The cavernicolous roost from which these M.
lyra were recorded lies in the northwest of Lehtrar (Murree) Punjab at
167.8 km and 115.6 degrees and southwest of Nangarhar Province
Afghanistan at 112.2 km and 259.2 degree and represents the first record
of M. lyra from northern Pakistan.

The false vampires are neither blood sucking nor the members of
family Desmodontidae which are confined to South America (Roberts 1997).
They belong to an ancient family of carnivorous bats and are placed in
super family Rhinolophoidae along with rhinopomatid and rhinolophid bats
in the Suborder Yinpterochiroptera (Springer et al. 2001; Teeling et al.
2005; Jones and Teeling 2006).

Like most of the Oriental bat species M. lyra colonized Pakistan
from the south through the savannah type vegetation of the Rann of Katch
as well as from the north through the Himalayan foothills (Mahmood-ul-
Hassan et al. 2009). Its colonies have been recorded in man-made
structures such as temples cellars natural caves and open wells (Brosset
1962; Eates 1968; Roberts 1997) and diet includes small mammals birds
frogs and fishes as well as large insects (Hill and Smith 1984). Owing
to its feeding habits the false vampire bat is acknowledged as a good
friend of farmers and is rewarded with protection by farmers who call it
the goddess Laxmi" and provide it food during harsh weather
(Mahmood-ul-Hassan and Nameer 2006). Colonies ranging from 25 to 240
individuals consume rats and mice which destroy different grains stored
in bags (Sinha 1986).

The cranio-morphometeric comparison of the bat specimens captured
from Heroshah revealed that the bats captured from northern Pakistan
averaged a bit larger than those reported by Bates and Harrison (1997).
All their body parameters however were in the ranges recorded by Bates
and Harrison (1997) and Roberts (1997) (Table 1).

Acknowledgements: This study was partly funded by the Rufford Small
Grants Foundation (UK) and Bat Conservation International (USA). The
financial assistance provided by these funding agencies is gratefully
acknowledged.